


Private Traps

by DiamondsxStags



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkwardness, F/M, Mental Health Issues, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Roman Catholicism, but even if u dont im gonna include the whole quote at the top of the chapter, congrats if u recognise the title, i have no goddamn self control, idk if it helps at all but i have amber heard as marion's fc so yeah, idk why im adding all this i just hate leaving additional tags blank rip, it has ed what were u expecting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 13:50:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12749604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiamondsxStags/pseuds/DiamondsxStags
Summary: The news of the deaths of Marion's grandparents was a surprise on many levels (not least because Marion had spent thirty years believing they were already dead), but the fact that they had left her mom their home in Gotham was one of the biggest. As mother and daughter relocate their whole lives to a city that was only a memory to the former and a complete stranger to the latter, Marion takes a job as a forensic scientist with the GCPD, bringing her into contact with Edward Nygma. What should've been a quiet crush on a man who resembled Marion's own first crush becomes something a lot more, in many ways, because nothing can go quite right for her can it?





	Private Traps

_ "No reason. No one really runs away from anything. It's like a private trap that holds us in like a prison. You know what I think? I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch."- _ Norman Bates

* * *

 

In many ways, the home her mom grew up in was far different from the image Marion had built up. Having only really known the confines of a small apartment, she had pictured her mom growing up somewhere just as small, a place where you can learn all of the secrets and hidden away things within a week. By the time Marion was seven she had memorized the entire layout of the apartment and could successfully navigate it in the dark. This, however, was a different story.

 

The townhouse was a solid three floors with a wrought iron balcony on the second floor. The face of it had been painted a clean, slick cream, with the occasional burst of colour thanks to the little garden boxes that hung off the outsides of the windows, housing various different flowers. Marion couldn’t tell from the sidewalk how healthy they were, but they did all seem to be in good condition. When she has a little girl, Marion and her mom kept a little herb garden in their small kitchen, but it had never been anything particularly impressive. Seeing all of this now, Marion wondered just how big of an adjustment her mom had to make to acclimate herself to the small apartment that had been her home for just under thirty years.

 

“It feels strange to be back here.”

 

Marion looked down at her mom. Although Marion herself wasn’t exceptionally tall, barely topping five feet and five inches, her mom was smaller still, having sat a firm five feet one inch for as long as Marion could remember. Despite this, Marion had always seen her mom as a pillar of strength, the way that the children of single parents often do.

 

That familiar combination of affection and pity rose in Marion, making her hug her mom, burying her face in the thick blonde hair she had inherited. “It’s ok mom.” She said softly. “We’re here together.” She pulled away and smiled encouragingly.

 

Although her mom smiled back, Marion didn’t miss the pain in her eyes. “I should be saying that to you sweetheart.”

 

Marion shrugged. She had grown used to this role.

 

Her mom sighed. “Well, let’s see how much it’s changed.” And, picking up the suitcases that had managed to contain almost her whole life since leaving Gotham, she walked right through the open door, Marion following behind with her own luggage.

 

The inside of the house was just as impressive as the outside. The walls had all been painted Tiffany blue, a colour that symbolized such luxury for Marion that it made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. The old mahogany floor beneath her feet was still dark and sleek looking, shining with polish. The only ornamentation that made Marion feel some form of comfort was a golden crucifix fixed on the wall above a table in the entry hall. Seeing Jesus nailed on that small cross had an oddly calming effect on Marion, making her think of the numerous little icons her mom and had kept around the apartment. It seemed that she had retained some part of her past when she had left Gotham after all.

 

The living room was decorated chicly, and it didn’t look like it’s previous occupants had been a couple in their late eighties. On the contrary, it was surprisingly modern, with largely cream coloured furniture that matched the fur rug on the floor in front of the marble fireplace. When she was just a girl, Marion considered having a house big enough to need stairs to be luxurious. This was a whole different level that Marion had never considered, and it wasn’t helping the knots that had formed in the pit of her stomach.

 

“It’s...different.” There was a strain to her mom’s voice that Marion was unable to decipher. It sounded like a cross between confusion and grief. She watched as her mom ran the palm of her hand along the arched back of a plush sofa, slowly, as if she was stroking a slumbering beast. “They redecorated while I was gone.”

 

Marion was reduced to just watching her mom try to find anything familiar, hunt down ghosts that she had known in her youth. Marion herself was still trying to get used to the idea that her mom’s parents had not only been alive this whole time, but had also been living rather comfortably. Until just a week ago, Marion had assumed that her mom had been orphaned following an accident or tragedy of some sort and had been left without any kind of inheritance. To learn that the truth was very much the opposite was nothing short of shocking for Marion.

 

After a tense and heavy silence, Marion watched her mom square her shoulders and turn around. Her smile was tight but Marion returned it anyway. “Well, let’s see our new rooms.”

 

The second floor landing was the same as the first floor, with a painting of the Virgin Mary greeting whoever would walk up the stairs, her eyes downcast and hands clasped. “Looks like not everything changed.” Marion glanced over at her mom, trying to decipher how she felt, but all she got was a view of her mom’s back. While Marion had grown to be attuned to her mom’s various ways of physical expression, it was her face that gave away the most, and without seeing it Marion couldn’t tell what was going through her mom’s head.

 

Four rooms dominated the landing; a bathroom, a room that looked like it had been used as an office judging by the choice of furniture, and two bedrooms. Before entering one of them, Marion noted the way her mom’s breath hitched, and how slowly she opened the door. If she had to hazard a guess, this was her mom’s childhood bedroom.

 

While the size of the bedroom might have dissuaded Marion from her theory (it was bigger than the living room in their old apartment), everything inside it said otherwise. The queen sized bed was covered by a duvet of a shocking shade of pink, the kind Marion is only used to seeing in her lipstick collection. Stuffed toys were placed in a neat and orderly fashion in a row in front of the pillows, books were stacked in various places, not just on the shelves or the hardwood desk that had a small statuette of the Virgin Mary beside a glass vase, containing a bunch of pink roses. The room was almost a parody of the kind a teenage girl would have, complete with the posters of the heartthrobs and block busters of the time. It looked so different from the rest of the house that it looked like it came from a different house entirely. Not even the walls had been touched, still covered by spotted wallpaper.

 

Marion turned to her mom and in the light of the late afternoon sun, she could see tears welling up. Without hesitating Marion embraced her mom, pulling her in close and tight. Her mom hadn’t said much about her parents following the news of their deaths, only that there had been a distance since her mom’s childhood, which ended up in her mom running all the way to Knoxville. Marion said nothing, because she could think of nothing to say.

 

For a while, they held each other in the bedroom, not saying anything. Much of their relationship was made up of silences, but comfortable silences, the kind that can only exist between two people who have a deep understanding of each other. When they pulled away, Marion held her mom’s arms, to steady her.

 

“Looks like I’ll be moving back in here.” Her mom said with a wry smile. “Since my stuff is still here.”

 

“Don’t even think about it.” Marion mirrored the smile and raised a brow. “I’ll stay in here mom, no arguments.”

 

For a moment it looked like Marion’s mom was going to argue. But she only smiled and patted Marion’s arm. “Ok honey.”

 

The master bedroom fit the decor of the rest of the house much more, and it even had a spacious walk-in wardrobe, with far more space than Marion’s mom really needed for all of her things.

 

In total the unpacking process took just over an hour and a half, with both Marion and her mom being left with far more wardrobe space than they needed. Having grown up with only a small closet, this was yet another big change on top of an already giant mountain of adjustments that needed to be made.

 

Rather than try and locate the nearest grocery store and find their footing in the kitchen, Marion and her mom ordered in Chinese food, with Marion answering the door and paying the delivery boy. They sat on the floor together, take out boxes in their laps, as they watched an old episode of Jeopardy. Game shows had become a staple in their little family unit, along with mass and word games and melancholy.

 

“How are you feeling about your first day at work tomorrow?”

 

One of the many things Marion appreciated about her mom is that she never asked questions like ‘Are you excited about such-and-such?’ or ‘Are you sad because of so-and-so?’, she never tried to guess at Marion’s feelings or lead them in any particular direction, and instead left her with all the power. Or at least, what little power that could be had in that kind of scenario. “I don’t know.” Marion admitted, looking down at her food and twirling the complimentary plastic fork that came with the food so that the noodles wound around the tines, mimicking the twisted knots in Marion’s stomach. “I feel like I should be, but I’m not.”

 

Marion’s mom nodded and ran a hand through Marion’s tightly pin curled hair. “You’ll be fine.” She said, in that sure tone of voice that mothers use when calming their children, regardless of their age. “You’re intelligent and friendly, everyone will love you.”

 

From an objective point of view, Marion could see the truth in her mom’s words. She was intelligent, the fact that she had succeeded in the field of forensic science was testament enough to that, and although she could be almost painfully shy at times, making friends was something she could do well if she decided to. But none of that really mattered, because Marion’s nerves had started to rise up, casting long shadows of doubt in their wake.

 

She spent the rest of the evening trying to ignore them as she and her mom watched more old episodes of Jeopardy, but they only grew bigger the way ignored things tend to, so that when Marion finally went to bed, all she could do for hours was stare at the ceiling, in the eyes of Ferris Bueller, crucifix cold against her warm skin.

* * *

At some point before Marion woke up, her mom had gone and gotten everything necessary for a hearty plate of bacon and eggs. Even though her daughter was now a grown woman, she was still doing what she could to care for her. But the nervousness still hadn’t left Marion, and the food tasted bland and left her feeling empty. Although her curls were still holding from yesterday, Marion still spent a good fifteen minutes fixing and adjusting them, and was only pulled away from her procrastination by her mom, who literally had to grab hold of Marion and drag her from the bathroom mirror.

 

“You’re going to be fine.” Her mom said as she ushered Marion into the cab that would take her to the GCPD. “Just don’t let your nerves get the better of you.” She pressed a kiss to Marion’s forehead. “I’ll say a prayer for you.”

 

Although her stomach was still roiling and it felt like her breakfast would come up any second now, Marion still smiled and hugged her mom tight. “I’ll let you know when I’m on my way home.” She said, giving her mom one last squeeze before slipping into the cab.

 

When it came to cabs and modes of transport like it, Marion preferred silence to chatting, no matter how friendly it may be. Thankfully, it appeared the cab driver agreed with this idea as he remained silent. During the ride Marion studied the city closely, filing away any detail she could see that would help her get to work the next day, when she planned on driving. 

 

As she took in Gotham’s streets, it suddenly occurred her just how far from Knoxville she really was. The streets were too narrow, with too many people looking down rather than at each other, and even the amount of litter and graffiti seemed excessive. But maybe she was imagining things. After all, the furthest she had ever gone before now was Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, and it had the privilege of being the place of many fond childhood memories for Marion, while Gotham might as well have been Narnia with how far away and foreign it was. She went back to observing her surroundings, fleeting though they were.

 

“We’re here.”

 

Marion sat up straighter in her seat, reaching into her purse for her wallet as she gazed at the facade of the GCPD. That foreboding feeling had returned, and Marion wasn’t entirely sure if she could blame it on nerves or homesickness.

 

“You work there.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement from the driver as he accepted his pay.

 

“Yep, starting from today.” Marion wanted to smile, but there was a grimness to the man’s face that made her pause, fingers lingering on the door handle.

 

“Be careful.” The driver said, putting the money Marion had given him into a black box that rested between them.

 

Marion waited for him to say more, but when he didn’t she hastily got out of the cab. As he drove away, Marion tried to tell herself that the driver hadn’t been referencing anything truly malicious or dangerous. After all, he could’ve assumed she was another cop, and cops died on the job all the time. She hoped that was what he was referring to.

 

As she expected, the inside of the building was busy, full of people walking around and expertly maneuvering out of each other’s paths. The constant motion had a calming affect on Marion, and she found herself bobbing and weaving between officers rather easily (although she did not miss the looks she was getting), making her ascent to Captain Essen’s office.

 

Although Marion had not been in Gotham during the interview process, she had sufficiently impressed the captain enough to secure a position in the forensics department. Essen was sitting at her desk and Marion found herself standing up straighter as she knocked on the door.

 

“Come in.”

 

Marion nervously slipped into the room and discreetly cleared her throat. “Captain Essen? I’m Marion Leigh? From Knoxville?”

 

For a split second, surprise broke out across Essen’s face, but she was able to bring it back to neutral within moments. “Of course.” She rose from her desk and shook Marion’s hand. “Welcome aboard Miss Leigh.” She left her office and Marion quickly followed. “We’ve been looking for a new forensics specialist for a while now, right now all I have is one man.”

 

Marion’s brows shot right up. In a city as big as Gotham with its crime rate, she thought that it’s forensics department would have a small platoon. “Only one?”

 

Essen nodded. “He’s a hard worker, but he can also be hard to work with.” She grimaced slightly. “Our last guy quit after a month.”

 

The nerves had come back. Marion was no stranger to difficult men, she had encountered them many time throughout her life, and she didn’t exactly relish the idea of working with one. But she knew she would have to suck it up, no matter how her new co-worker behaved. If she could handle the Good Ol’ Boys of Tennessee, she was confident she could handle whatever Gotham had to offer.

 

“Ed?” Essen opened the door to the forensics lab, which housed all the equipment Marion expected, as well as a man who appeared to be Marion’s own age. He was hunched over a microscope and making notes with impressive speed. “Ed, your new co-worker is here.”

 

The man, Ed, looked up so quickly that it caught Marion by surprise. He looked at Marion curiously, before smiling widely. “Hello!” He got out of his seat and within a few strides he was standing in front of Marion, almost looming over her, and held out his hand. “Edward Nygma.”

 

“Marion Leigh.” She smiled and shook Ed’s hand, but paused once his name fully registered with her. “Wait, Edward Nygma? As in N-Y-G-M-A?”

 

Ed looked surprised and confused and glanced at Essen before looking back at Marion. “I-Yes. Yes that’s me.”

 

Immediately Marion’s hands were covering her mouth, eyes wide and face going nearly as red as her lipstick. “Oh my God!” She lowered her hands, revealing the big grin she had. “I’ve read your work!”

 

The look of surprise on Ed’s face intensified, and he raised his brows. “You have?”   
  
Marion nodded ecstatically. “Yes! My forensics professor got all of us to read your articles! The one you wrote about preventing false positives was fascinating!” She placed a hand on his arm and gave it a friendly squeeze. “I thought you would be working for the FBI, what are you doing here?”

 

Now Ed’s face was as red as Marion’s own. “Oh! Um, well first of all, thank you very much. I...don’t often meet people who has read my articles.” He glanced down at Marion’s hand before looking up at her. “Well Gotham is my home, I can’t imagine working or living anywhere else.”

 

“It is such an honour to work with you.” Now that she had started, Marion found it hard to stop. “Oh God if I knew you worked here I would’ve been able to calm myself, now I’m just making a fool of myself.”

 

Essen cleared her throat. “Well, it’s nice to see you two getting on already.” She looked over at Marion, as if trying to figure something about her out. “I hope you enjoy your first day Miss Leigh, and if anything happens please feel free to come see me.”

 

“Of course ma’am.” Marion nodded. “Thank you again for hiring me.”

 

With only one final nod and glance at Ed, Essen left the lab, leaving Marion to bask in this surprising development. She smiled brightly at Ed and gave his arm another squeeze. “So, Mr Nygma, how do things work around here?”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


End file.
